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Auburn-Washburn seeks FieldTurf help with deteriorating football field

Auburn-Washburn administrators say they are experiencing problems with deterioration of the FieldTurf football field at Washburn Rural High School. Seaman reported similar problems and repaced its FieldTurf artificial turf last summer. In this file photo, athletes play on the new field in September. (Chris Neal/The Capital-Journal)

An Auburn-Washburn administrator said Monday he hopes to schedule a visit this week with a FieldTurf representative to inspect a football field that the district says is exhibiting concerning signs of deterioration.

“The blades have kind of a spine on them and they’re splitting down the spine,” USD 437 facilities director Rich Jones said Monday, describing the situation at Washburn Rural High School. “And so the blades just get loose and are laying all over the field, and so we’re starting to get dark spots.”

Jones said the company has told USD 437 the field is still safe to play on because the infill pellets remain, even in patches where the artificial blades of grass have broken down.

“Up to this point it’s been a good field,” he said, adding that the district noticed the problem this summer.

“We have always worked closely with our customers to promptly evaluate and remediate any potentially affected fields,” the company said. “Additionally, we are always happy to send, at our expense, a technician to inspect any existing fields.”

Auburn-Washburn has made multiple phone calls to FieldTurf seeking an inspection of its field. Jones said USD 437 had trouble figuring out who to contact, but the Leavenworth school district provided contact information for a FieldTurf representative with whom its officials had been in touch. That representative seems very responsive, Jones said.

Asked Monday whether Leavenworth USD 453 also is experiencing problems with its FieldTurf field, a spokesman for that school district said only that USD 453 is “currently in communications with FieldTurf related to this issue.”

Jones said Auburn-Washburn had expected the football field to last 10 to 12 years. The district’s Sprinturf soccer field has lasted longer than that, he said.

“We’ve had some seams come apart,” he said of the Sprinturf field, “but we’ve been able to repair those. That field has held up well.”

Auburn-Washburn has communicated with its lawyer about the condition of its football field, which remains under warranty.

Some districts in Kansas and around the country who, starting about a decade ago, purchased a FieldTurf product sometimes called Duraspine have complained the material is falling apart prematurely.

Some have sued FieldTurf, accusing it of breach of warranty or breach of contract, and say the company had evidence the product in question was faulty, yet continued to sell it to schools. In some cases, districts say FieldTurf refused to stick by the terms of eight-year warranties that promised free repair or replacement of faulty turf.

In September, FieldTurf rejected this allegation in a statement to The Topeka Capital-Journal: “We no longer use these fibers, have worked closely with our customers to resolve this issue when it has arisen and have always been dedicated to honoring our warranties and remediating any affected fields where appropriate — at no additional cost to customers.”